Within an hour we are in Jacksonville, the first city in Florida, whence the tourist takes his first impression of the climate and the people. The train stops at a busy, bustling wharf, and as we step out we face the grand expanse of the noble St. John’s river, stretching away in gracefully curving lines to the right and the left of us; a few fishing boats with brown patched sails are gliding to and fro, and one or two pretty miniature steamers are puffing lazily along its surface; the curving banks on the opposite shore are fringed with green to the water’s edge. We turn round and face the town: there is a wide stretch of land cut up in plots of garden ground, then a long, unbroken line of shops and houses, varied by the lofty and elegant façades of the Everett and Carlton Hotels which face the river front, the view however being slightly marred by the wharf and the railway station, which is a mere rough, wooden structure and has been hastily run up regardless of architectural appearance; a few rough, wooden benches under cover are all the waiting-rooms the passengers are likely to find. Adjoining the station, and indeed forming a part of it, are long wharves and packing-houses, where hives of busy bees are always working, especially during the months of January and February, packing and shipping strawberries and other delicate fruits to New York and other eastern and northern cities. At this point there is an immense amount of railway traffic, the iron roads running like the arms of an octopus in every direction; trains are constantly passing to and fro, but they are too far away for either the sight or the sounds to cause any actual inconvenience beyond slightly obstructing the view of the Bay Street hotels. If these ugly but useful structures were swept away, or stationed a little farther down the river away from the town, the land and water view from the whole line of Bay Street would be lovely in the extreme. Lying farther back, as we afterwards find, are numerous other hotels, all erected in choice positions, some embowered in trees and gardens of blooming flowers; all are beautifully shaded and luxuriously appointed in every particular. There are plenty of omnibuses waiting; we drive at once to the Everett, attracted by its handsome appearance and position, and knowing that there we should have the advantage of every breeze that blew from the river. CHAPTER X. Jacksonville.--Our hotel.--Greenleaf’s museum.--Floridian curiosities.--East winds and tropical breezes.--Strawberry packing.